and in other news...one of my old master gardener pals from NC has started to get interested in orchids and sent this picture to me of one of her Phals. that's been on a shaded porch for months and suddenly this happened to one plant...not the whole collection nearby...any ideas?


she said that she did not see any noticeable slug trails...no mealy bugs or scale...

The big white lesion looks like it got sunburnt to me, but that doesn't explain the small ones on the other leaves.

Spider mites? If the lesions don't go right through the leaves, it might be damage from mites. So you know if she checked the undersides of the leaves?

Sunburn and either inquisitive squirrels or birds beaks.

This looks very much what I used to see on Phals in my early days of Orchid growing ca 25 years ago. The plant would grow a new healthy leaf, then these lesions would start which turned into large sunken areas and eventually killed the whole leaf. After a while the leaves would fall off in a faster rate than growing new leaves and the plant died. The reason was supposed to be micro fungus.
I quit growing Phals then for at least 15 years.

I see this occasionally on my large-leaf cattleyas and have watched a bird (often a red-headed woodpecker) pecking away at a leaf. Why, I don't know. Those pockmarks stay for the life of the leaf but I have never seen a disease associated with this.

Thanks all.. I'll pass the info on to my friend in NC.
And in other news.. I found another one of those mystery bugs that's irritating the S%@T out of me.. This time in a new growth in an oncidium.. After spraying the area, it came out like an inch worm into the light so I could take another out of focus picture of it!

I don't know worms and caterpillars, Lindsey.

Lindsey, look up June bug larvae. I think that might be it. That's of course if you have June bugs around

Did you try the Bt Lindsey? Don't want to sound like a broken record here but the stuff is great, and will only harm a caterpillar that actually takes a bite out of whatever plant you sprayed it on.

So if that guy is just some chance visitor that fell from a tree, and he doesn't find your orchids tasty he will simply be on his way. If he makes a meal of an orchid leaf, he will get sick and die, not live to lay eggs and cause further grief.

I haven't gotten it yet , Elaine...was at the big box store but didn't have it written down and in front of me then...I now do! Do you think it would be ok to put it in the sprayer along with fungicide or fertilizer...or epsom salts?

Hmm, it is a bacterial culture so might be sensitive to salts (fert etc.) but should be ok along with fungicide.

I'm not big on combining things just because then you never know what caused what if there IS a problem. I try to apply single doses of stuff and wait a day or two to see the results especially if it's something new I'm using.

I haven't had to use Bt on my orchids for years, since they are mostly inside the cage, but I know people who use it on "jungle" orchids in their gardens all the time. I used to have more out on the trees but had problems with birds and squirrels, and even once a snake got entangled in one that was mounted with bird netting . . . Ya just never know

Yikes, get that Bt sooner rather than later. I agree with Elaine, don't mix with anything else. Bt comes in both liquid and dry forms, I might be inclined to try the dust in conjunction with a liquid spray. The liquid would rundown into the nooks and crannies and the dust would cover the broad leaves better. Here are a few names to look for at your neighborhood place.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=n...

Thanks Elaine and Alice for the advice about combining products...excellent points!
thanks for this link Alice...I went to Lowe's this morning and scrutinized all the small print and could not for the life of me find anything that had BT in it..and to make matters worse they had no orchids other than some dried up in a bag..plants..very disheartening ...on both counts! I'm noticing TONS of pretty small moth-like things flying just above the grass lately..I wonder if they are related?

Sorry I'm late to the party. The Phal. spotting looks like Phyllosticta Leaf Spot to me. This is generally not a serious problem but rather an ascetic one. Spray with Mancozeb to control it if it bothers you.

I think you are on the right track, Ted. It is a larvae of some kind. I don't think we have June bugs in Florida but surely we have 10 others to take its place. Bt. or something like it should do the job.

Jim

Lindsey, the brand name Thuricide comes to mind. It's a small bottle, and mine is so old the label is gone. Plus I can't read it from Salt Lake City anyway.

DiPel is another brand name for BT. Lowe's is limited in what they can carry, our stores had to stop carrying certain products because the big guns like Scott's protested. If there are any feed & seed places in your area they often have better selections.

Also saw plenty on amazon

OK Lindsey, taking it back for a bit.
Dendrobium speciosum ssp curvicaule
This was the first post

Look at it now. The cane is growing great and the leaf...

You called it Jim

Awesome looking new growth there!!
Yay